AEGiS-14IAC: Breaking the vicious cycle of discrimination, why and how.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

Breaking the vicious cycle of discrimination, why and how.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. E11471)

Chen CN
Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

ISSUES: In the battle against discrimination, public education alone is not sufficient. Equality status for and empowerment of the PWAs are important. An international federation of professional PWAs is suggested as a global response to empowerment of the PWAs.

DESCRIPTION: The Hong Kong AIDS Advisory Council has a committee to tackle discrimination. We have accumulated researches, documents, reports, and organized working groups and seminar to tackle discrimination.

ISSUES: Local community surveys showed serious discrimination against the PWAs. The PWAs were maltreated by a group of local residents. Press media failed to respect the PWAs and disclosed their identity without individual consent. The Government establishes an independent Equal Opportunities Commission, which could, act for the PWAs, as well as other disadvantaged minority groups, to bring to court those who discriminate. But empowerment remains a big problem. A brief statement of next steps: There is an urgent need to enhance empowerment of the local PWAs so that they can 'stand up and be counted'. Internationally a federation of professional PWAs, or a professional group within an internaitonal organization of PWAs, is therefore proposed, members of which, upon invitation, could respond and help in public campaigns in different countries. This is most useful in countries where stigmatization is serious or the prevalence is low; and the local PWAs, who suffer from actual and/or perceived stigma, are so far unable to appear in person and lobby for themselves. The emphasis on professional status is to demonstrate to the general public that PWAs are responsible people worthy to be respected. People who are PWAs working in the medical, dental, legal, and academic fields as well as singers and movie stars etc. should be recruited to take part. Locally empowerment programmes for PWAs are equally important, and should be coordinated with the international campaign.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Stereotyping, Discrimination (Psychology), Prevalence, Minority Groups, Data Collection, Stress, Psychological, Hong Kong, organization & administration

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